Xi Jinping Criticizes his Critics

A speech by Chinese vice chairman Xi Jinping has sparked notable support on the internet, according to Global Voices. Apparently in a speech to overseas Chinese in Mexico, Xi said that “there are a few foreigners, with full bellies, who have nothing better to do than try to point fingers at our country“. According to the Telegraph, commenters suggest that Xi was lashing out at his Mexican hosts for siding with Britian and the United States in calling for China to improve its human rights record.

According to Malcom Moore, the Telegraph´s correspondent in Shanghai, both the speech by Xi Jinping and the reactions to it by mainland Chinese bloggers and commenters were soon taken down by censors.

Among the countries calling for improvements on human rights in China during a UN Human Rights Council review earlier this month were Britain, France and Germany, and Latin countries including Mexico, Brazil and Argentina.

Mexico had also commended the Chinese government for having implemented additional safeguards concerning the application of the death penalty, but at the same session recommended that China consider positively declaring a moratorium on the application of the death penalty with a view to abolishing it.

Are You in China? Google…

Is Net Nanny economically sustainable?

 

… Freedom City.

If this doesn’t work, Bobo Freedom City probably won’t work either. Which is bad news for property developers. There is a conflict between censorship and domestic demand.

A more scientific term for this conflict might be frictional loss.

When Your Dictionaries aren’t Good Enough…

… consider Google Translate – or Wikipedia.

Random Matters discusses a rather technical approach (too technical for me).

An apparently more mundane Wikipedia-Chinese approach was suggested by Junjie last year.

I’m sometimes wondering how people learned Chinese without the internet.

Voice of Germany turns from German to Foreign Listeners

Traditionally, the Voice of Germany has, above all, seen itself as a source of information for Germans living abroad. Erik Bettermann, its director, says that this is going to change: “The Voice of Germany wants to reach people who influence opinion making and democratic processes.” Just by speaking German, this goal would not be reached, said Bettermann. He refers to foreign radio and television broadcasters such as BBC World, Al-Dschasira [Oumph. Should have been Al-Jazeera.] oder France 24 and points out that the BBC has a budget of six million Euros [update: 24 mn Euros], while the Voice of Germany has to work with only six million Euros.

Germany’s international broadcaster would only be successful in competing with its global competitors if provided with the necessary financial means. Quality journalism was needed, as the debate about the Chinese department had shown, Bettermann said, according to the Kölner Stadtanzeiger. This required internal debate, too, but this in turn required sufficient human resources.

Voice of Germany will boost its television programs in English and Spanish, while a German program will be broadcast on a second channel. Audio programs will be increased online, with live stream and audio on demand. Listening and watching habits had changed, said Bettermann.

By the end of this year, the station will have decided on its future course to steer. The current total budget is 275 million Euros – the station is funded by the federal government. For 2013, Bettermann expects a need of additional 78 million Euros.

The Voice already played an important role in the promotion of democracy, said Bettermann. With its Global Media Forum, scheduled in Bonn in June this year, the broadcaster offered a platform for the global media community.

Related:
Unharmonious Days at the Voice of Germany’s Chinese Service »
Chinese Department in Translation »
Will CCTV and Xinhua shape China’s Global Image? »

Knife Attack on Blogger

Zeng Jinyan wrote yesterday that blogger and writer Xu Lai (徐来) was attacked with a knife (or knives) on Valentine’s Day. She also heard that his condition was stable.

According to Singapore’s Lianhe Zaobao (Morning News), Mr Xu was attacked by two unknown men during a public discussion in a bookshop in Beijing, Danxiang Jie Book Store on Wan Da Square (单向街书店万达广场). Morning News also reported that Mr Xu’s condition is not life-dangerous. The attack was apparently carried out by people who disliked what he wrote.

His blog – 钱烈宪要发言 or ProState in Flames – is here. It won the Voice of Germany’s “Best Blog” prize in 2005, according to Morning News.

Zeal of Living

Last year I had a discussion with another blogger about spirituality and what it can do to save peoples’ lives. He replied that spirituality doesn’t necessarily “save” people, that spirituality can be both good or evil, but that someone either believed in something transcendent beyond mere DNA replication, or he would be amoral otherwise.

Our discussion gave me some insights into my own values from a new perspective. I wouldn’t ever deny that there may be some kind of God, because it doesn’t make sense to negate something without evidence. That life on the other side of the cupboard, assumed by many people, is beyond confirmation or rejection for me. I can only discuss matters that I can feel or see.

But above all, our discussion made me feel that many religious peoples’ notion that only someone religious or spiritual – or someone whose views transcend mere materialism – can appreciate the value that life has.

I believe that I have this one life. I know when it began, but I don’t know when it will end. I don’t really understand either its beginning or its end, but I can make the best of it. I can open my senses to the world and “do nothing” – one might call that meditation, but it is no established methodology for me. I can make choices and fight. I can make a choice and I can love someone. I can make friends with people. I can make enemies, too. I can smoke and wonder how much it is enjoyment, and how much it is addiction.

When working hard, I can feel how my awareness is becoming stronger. When I’m working hard, I’m usually also best at writing some bullshit on this blog – sometimes pretty good bullshit, I think. I feel the intensity of life best when working hard. I’m best at sports when having worked hard just before. I’m also best at more playful competition after working hard. And I’m best at doing nothing after having worked hard just before.

I think it was Wilhelm Lehmann, a German poet, who used the term “zeal of being”. As far as I can tell, he was a religious man, as he referred to the world as a creation, and if he was religious, he might also be a good example for my spritual blogging colleague’s bid that spirituality can be both for good or evil. Because Lehmann was a lifetime civil servant, he joined the Nazi party in May 1933 – according to wikipedia -, for fear of losing his job otherwise. But he was a great poet, and although his poems were probably religiously motivated, I can relate to them in my own way without being religious myself.

So there must be something beyond and outside religion that can make people value life. That makes sense to me anyway. After all, if you believe in only one life, you might cherish it all the more. Life is nothing that I could take for granted. When you believe in one life, the one on this side of the cupboard, you might cherish other peoples’ lives, too. Just as much as someone who believes that life is a divine gift or loan.

Hermit detects American Economic Occultists

Hello Children,

The (still secret) Laffer Curve Cult's Prayer Breakfast

today I’m telling you why it took the American Congress so long to pass another “stimulus package”. It’s because many senators and representatives wanted it to contain more tax breaks.

Also today I’m showing you an American cult which is going to become America’s governing party within five or nine years. They will cut tax once again, even though it was done before, in the 1980s, and never produced the intended results. Cult researchers usually refer to them as the Secret Laffer Curve Cult’s Prayer Breakfast Associates or as the Old Magic Elephant Boys.

Their ideology is based on a so-called Laffer curve. The theory behind it suggests that somewhere between a tax rate of 0.1 and 99.9%, there is the ideal tax rate that will generate most tax revenues – governments only need to find and choose the ideal rate. One problem is that they believe they know where that point in the Laffer Curve is. Another problem is that no matter if you hit the right point in the Laffer curve, you still can’t spend as much money as you want. So, if handled the way it was in the 1980s or during the recent eight years, it probably won’t work, because it didn’t work in the past either.

Anyway, the cult will come back within nine years, because Americans usually have short memories.

Searchword of the Day!

www germany prize of dalai lama ,com